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Businesses focusing less on Trump, says study

Businesses are talking less and less about President Trump, according to Hamilton Place Strategies.

In an analysis of quarterly earnings calls, the group found that mentions of Trump’s name had fallen a precipitous 84 percent between January and August, from 114 to 23.

Similarly, while 24 percent of the quarterly earnings calls mentioned the administration in the last quarter of 2016, just 5 percent mentioned it by the second quarter of 2017.

The study didn’t speculate as to what caused the drop-off.

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The early part of the study looked at earnings calls during a period of intense interest in Trump that included his inauguration. At the time, many businesses may have speculated on how the new president would govern and how it would effect their earnings.

It was the same time that Republicans emerged with control over both chambers of Congress and the White House, a rare moment of unified government in Washington.

The drop-off could also reflect a level of disillusionment on the part of business with the administration.

Seven months in, the administration has failed to pass major legislation and has been beset by infighting and intraparty sparring.

The HPS noted that calls mentioning tax reform, a central business concern, had dropped 38 percent, though it remained the most frequently mentioned policy issue to arise in earnings calls.

That drop, HPS said, was linked to “the absence of concrete action.”

Mentions of healthcare, on the other hand, doubled. The GOP healthcare law failed in the Senate in early August.